After Flash got the journal back from First Base (and making sure that he didn’t write anything embarrassing in it), he hid it in his backpack where it would be safe. He went through the rest of the week quite normally. His parents were still away, so that meant that he had to be in charge of First Base while they were gone. Aqua was also in charge of him, but on some days, she’d go and hang out with Blitz. As for Flash himself, he’d go to the mall to relax or play with his band. It wasn’t until the following weekend when the journal began to glow when he got up that morning. He picked it up and saw a message from Twilight.
“Hey Flash. Don’t know when you’ll get this, but a painting similar to the one that we went in was found recently. If you are able to, come to Equestria and let me know when you are at the portal on your end so I can unlock it for you. Oh, and one more thing, the ones who are bringing the painting are my relatives, so try not to get into a fight with one of them,"
Flash read the message over again. So, Twilight found another one of those paintings. This was going to be interesting to say the least. He grabbed his backpack with a few snacks in it and headed out the door before he was stopped by Aqua. “And just where do you think you are going?” she questioned.
“I have to do something important,” Flash responded.
“Well, I’m not going to stop you. Just don’t take all weekend, okay?” Aqua asked. Flash nodded and stated that he hoped it would only take a few hours or a day at most. He left the house and decided to take his bike over to the school to get to the portal. A few minutes later, he arrived at the school. Since it was Summer Vacation, there was no one around. Flash got the journal out of his backpack and began to write in it.
“Hey Twilight, it’s me. I’m at the statue at the school. I’m ready when you are,”
He waited a few seconds to see if Twilight would respond. He then noticed that the statue portal was glowing slightly. He walked toward it and stuck his hand in it. Seeing that it had gone through, he then walked through the portal.
After the rush of going through the portal (which was technically his first time actually using the statue portal to go to Equestria), Flash felt the floor of Twilight’s castle below him. He saw that Twilight was waiting for him. “Oh good, you’re here,” she said. “The ones who brought the painting are upstairs,” she explains, gesturing with her wing for him to follow her. The two eventually reached the main area where the Cutie Map was. There were two ponies waiting there. One appeared to be an alicorn like Twilight, and the other was a white unicorn wearing formal wear. “Flash, this is my brother, Shining Armor and his wife, Princess Cadence,” Twilight explained.
“Nice to meet you both,” Flash said, while bowing.
“I take it that you’re the Flash Sentry of the mirror world?” Princess Cadence asked.
Flash nodded. “Yes, your majesty,” he said politely.
“You are a polite young stallion…or man in this case. Anyways, I have that painting that I told you about, Twilight,”. Cadence went over near the entrance. “You can bring it in now,” she announced. Two ponies then came into the room. One was a tall Earth Pony who had a dark red coat with a light red mane. He was pulling a cart with something on it that had a sheet over it. Next to the Earth Pony was a Pegasus that was flying right next to him. He had a dark blue coat, with a blonde mane. “These two are Biggs and Wedge. They are the new guards who came with us,” Cadence explained.
The Earth Pony, Biggs, bowed before Twilight. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess,” he said in a deep voice. He then elbowed his companion who had landed right next to him.
“Huh? Oh! Right!” the Pegasus, Wedge, stated as he bowed as well. Compared to Biggs, who was built like Big Mac, Wedge was on the smaller side. About a head shorter than Twilight herself. He could be mistaken for a foal if one didn’t look closely enough.
“You two can be at ease,” Twilight responded. Biggs and Wedge then stood back up and went back to the sides of the painting. Twilight then got a look at their cutie marks. Biggs had one of a boulder being smashed on the ground, while Wedge had one of a dagger surrounded by a tiny tornado. They were not Crystal Ponies, so Twilight figured that they were recruited from someplace other than the Crystal Empire. “Since you already know who I am, I should introduce you to a friend of mine who’s going to help us,” she said gesturing to Flash with her wing.
Flash walked up to both of them. “My name is Flash Sentry. It’s nice to meet the two of you,” he said.
“We know who you are,” Biggs said, his emotion not changing. “You are one of the royal guards…but last I checked, you are supposed to be back at the Crystal Empire,”.
“Er…well I’m not exactly from this world,” Flash stated. He then looked at Twilight to get a sign on whether or not he should reveal where he was from. Twilight gave a nod of approval. “I’m…from a world where there are creatures called humans. I was invited here because I have knowledge about the painting that was found…sort of,".
“Interesting…” Biggs mused.
“Are you the Princesses foalfriend?” Wedge asked all of a sudden. This caused Flash and Twilight to blush and sweat drop and Biggs to facehoof. Flash couldn’t help but notice that Shining was looking at him strangely.
“Ahem, now that introductions are out of the way,” Shining Armor began, “we would like to show you the painting that we discovered,”. He nodded to Biggs and Wedge, who pulled down the sheet that was on the cart. The object underneath the sheet was another painting like the one at the museum and the one that was in the basement of Canterlot Castle. This one showed a snowy landscape, with three figures in the middle of it. Like the painting at the museum, there were purple clouds on the bottom of it. “We found it in a hidden room in the castle. We don’t know if it is from Sombra’s reign or before it,”. Shining Armor explained.
“Hmm, where there any other paintings like it?” Twilight asked. “When me and Flash left the other one, we came out in a painting in the basement of Canterlot Castle. We don’t want to be lost in the Crystal Empire after we complete whatever we need to do in this one,”.
“We aren’t sure, but we did have a few guards search the storerooms underneath the castle just to be sure,” Shining Armor replied. “And so far, they haven’t found anything,”.
“Well, that’s good. Before I forget, Flash is there anything important that we need to know about this world?” Twilight asked, turning her attention to him.
“Well, in this world, there is a war going on between two factions. You start out by playing as someone who has been brainwashed by the enemy faction,” Flash responded. After seeing Twilight nodding for him to go on, he continued. “And…I think I should go in first and you come in a bit later. Sort of how things went the previous time,”.
Twilight mused on this thought for a bit before speaking up again. “I admire how considerate and honest that you are being with me on this. However, I feel like I can handle whatever happens when we step through that portal. Besides, I don’t want things to go south for you,” she responded. Flash wanted to protest, but he had a feeling that Twilight would veto it anyways.
“Okay, this is agreeable,” he replied.
“Then let’s go,” said Twilight as both of them stepped through the portal as Shining Armor and Cadence watched.